catapult magazine

Eminem.

The world’s most controversial artist. Right? Or is that just the image the media wants us to have?

Eminem.

The world’s best rapper. An intelligent individual with a troubled past. Right?

Eight Mile in itself was simple. A simple story of a man working to escape his hell.

Has anyone else seen it?

Good film. Not surprising it did 51 grand on it’s opening weekend.

I finally saw it this weekend. I went to see it with Ashkan, my “Axis of Evil” friend, who doesn’t speak very good English — the first thing he said to me afterwards was, “That’s it?” Yeah, that’s it. Story of a poor American kid who pulls himself up by his sneakerstraps, all by himself. The theme of the movie would have to be “Don’t listen to anyone else. Do it your own way.” Paradoxical since the movie clearly shows he couldn’t have done it without his friends. The verbal sparring was fun to watch, though all Ashkan got out of it was “one pac, Tupac, three pac” and then asked me about that afterwards . . .

I liked it, I just want to count the number of moving shots that have Eminem sullenly walking away from something with his cronies chasing after him.

Does anyone here know rap really well? Can real people really ‘freestyle’ like that? And are Eminem’s rhymes really better than the other guy’s? I mean really . . .

I am not into rapping that much, but worked with a hip hop band, on their album, which exposed me to alot of the rapper/hip hop culture.

Yes, Freestyling is an art and craft that you find in most rapper showdowns. It separates the fluent rappers, those who have tongues directly connected to their brains, from the memorized rappers, who may write eloquently but can’t get it out in the spur of the moment situations. I think the “golden rappers” are those who are capable of both.

Are Eminems rhymes any better? Probably not. But he is built on shock value, which always gets peoples blood churning, and he is VERY good at that.

well, I’m not quite ready to say that M&M’s lyrics are purely shock and nothing else. I’m not a conissuer of hip/hop, but I have dabled, and certainly enough to know that his ryhmes and style are unique. He does have that disgusting trait of self-absorption and hatred of weakness which seems to be a mainstay of hip/hop, but he’s also more self-depreicating and sardonic, and less about the “bling-bling,” Cristal, and Bently’s, which is refreshing.
Of course, you can also find other hip/hop artists who are just as talented and aren’t obsessed with money and “ho’s,” but not as popular.

i went and saw 8 Mile, actually about three times. before this movie i bashed rap and bashed eminem, but i had no clue what i was talking about. this movie showed me the talent in rapping. i’m a big music buff, and i would not call rap music, but it takes talent. after i saw this movie, i didn’t give eminem any sympathy for the way he is by the way he grew up. but, it did show me that he pushed his talent through hard times and didn’t give it up.

8 Mile was not that bad of a movie, in fact, it was one of the best i’ve seen for a while.

i liked it. i too thought rap was crap. but the rhyming that they can come up with on the spot in a freestylin’ atmosphere is quite amazing i do say.

simple yet satisfying.